Something Better

Elder LeGrand Richards tells an interesting story about his cousin on a mission that I like:

“This cousin of mine who went to Norway—and he had been raised so that he had no experience with difficult situations—wrote me when he had been there a few weeks, and he said, ‘LeGrand, I met a man the other day who knows more about religion than I’ve ever dreamed of, and I told him that if he had something better than I had, I’d join his church.’

“I wrote back and, calling him by name, I said, ‘You told him just the right thing. If he has something better than you have, you ought to join his church. Does he have something better than a personal visitation of God the Father and his Son, Jesus Christ, after centuries of darkness, when the heavens had been sealed and not one religious leader believed that there was any direct communication from God upon this earth today? Does he have something better than the coming of Moroni, and the knowledge of the gold plates, and the marvelous message that those plates contain and that was translated by the gift and the power of God? Does he have something better than the coming of John the Baptist with the Aaronic Priesthood, the power and the authority to lead men down into the waters of baptism for the remission of their sins? Does he have something better than the coming of Peter, James, and John with the holy Melchizedek Priesthood, the power to organize again the Church and the kingdom of God upon the earth and to bestow the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands?’ Then I went on to recall the mission of Moses and Elijah and Elias, and I said: ‘If he has something better than that, you ought to join his church.’ Now, I hope that all of you feel as I do regarding this matter.” (“God’s Simple Eternal Truth, 1979)